Abbas' Fatah movement marks anniversary in Gaza first time in six years

• Supporters of Abbas' Fatah movement on Friday marked its 48-year anniversary in the Gaza Strip.

• The huge crowds gathered at an open yard to attend a central rally that marks the anniversary.

• "The crowds came to tell Hamas that we are eager for reconciliation and unity," Amal Hamad said.

Supporters of Fatah movement hold the party's flags during a celebration marking the 48th anniversary of the Fatah movement in Gaza City on Jan. 4, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Friday marked its 48-year anniversary in the Gaza Strip, for the first time in six years. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

GAZA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Friday marked its 48-year anniversary in the Gaza Strip, for the first time in six years.

On trucks, in cars or just walking on foot, the huge crowds of Fatah gathered at an open yard in Gaza City's center to attend a central rally that marks the anniversary of the movement, which was found in January 1965.

"This million-man-woman rally is a message to Israel and to Hamas movement and to the Palestinian people," Amal Hamad, a Palestinian female member of Fatah movement's central committee from Gaza, told Xinhua.

"The crowds came to tell Hamas that we are eager for reconciliation and unity, and tell (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the Israeli premier that the Palestinian state will be established soon whether he accepts it or not," said Hamad.

Hamas movement had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and routed the security forces of Abbas. Over the past six years, Hamas banned any activity or holding rally by Fatah.

Faisal Abu Shahla, a Fatah lawmaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), told Xinhua that Fatah movement "is for unity and for ending the internal division."

"The hundreds of thousands took to the streets to renew the pledge of allegiance to President Abbas and to tell Hamas movement that Fatah is a hard rigid that can never be deleted," said Abu Shahla.

GAZA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Friday to meet the populations of the Gaza Strip soon, saying there is no alternative for achieving unity, reconciliation and ending the internal division.

Abbas' words came in a speech he addressed via phone to one million Fatah supporters who attended a central rally in the Gaza Strip that marked the 48-year anniversary of Fatah movement, which was found on Jan. 1, 1965. Full story

GAZA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- At al-Saraya yard in Gaza city, former security compound of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), three bulldozers are removing the rubble and leveling the sandy ground, while dozens of workers were building up a large podium and woody pillars, and decorating the large yard with yellow flags of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party.

A mass rally is expected to be held here Friday to mark the 48th anniversary of Fatah's foundation, after five years of Palestinian internal division. It will be the first such event Fatah holds in the Gaza Strip since its rival, the Islamic Hamas movement, forcefully seized control of the enclave in 2007. Full story